Grass for a guinea pig. roll from b&q?

[TodayImostlyhaveaverucca]

We have fairly New Guinea pigs, so still finding the way a bit. They love, love being in the outdoor run, but as weather is still pretty cold & wet this can be limited.
I’d wondered about buying a roll of turf/grass from b&q or somewhere and putting it in the ground floor of their hutch, but I’m not sure if it will be covered in pesticides. Or if it’s otherwise a terrible idea. I have grown some grass in a flat container which they enjoyed.

I'd worry the grass was too new if its turf (we've just had a lawn turfed and the grass is very green , fragile looking ) . You need to limit grazing to begin with or they gorge themselves which can give them bloat .

I don't have piggies now and we didn't put anything on our lawn (it did get wrecked by them) to treat or weed it .
Best bet is just to cut grass , give it a wash if you need to and let it come to room temperature .

I bought a dried grass block for mine when they were indoors ( I think Wilko) they loved it . Plenty to gnaw at , nicer than hay
It kept its shape well even being peed on and shredded .

Turf in the bottom of the hutch will probably die, & if it doesn't they eat it pretty quickly. You could grow it in pots for them (placing the pots elsewhere to regrow).

Personally I just take a pair of scissors and cut it from the garden for ours, plus the odd dandelion. You can't feed lawnmower cuttings (due to the heat they ferment very quickly) but hand cut or pulled grass is fine.

I also buy dried forage - you can gather your own but I am wary of pesticides too so tend to stick with what's in our garden so supplement with dried stuff.

Good quality hay (mine love timothy hay, or the 5 a day hay from Natures Own) is the most important part of their diet though, plus vitamin c rich veg like peppers.

Ah thanks for replying. I didn’t know they could have too much grass!!
Is it okay for them to be on the lawn grazing most days? It’s not very grassy, mucho moss which they seem to be avoiding.

I knew you couldn’t feed lawnmower cuttings although ours isn’t motorised, I’d be worried about oil. Not that I ever cut the grass anyway. They have millions of hay all the time, and dried forage and pellets plus spinach/kale daily. They don’t seem to use the down stairs of their hutch & I thought it might encourage them to stretch their legs on days they can’t go out I have.
I was going to cut the turf , line the cage & put a fresh bit in each day. Maybe I will stick with growing them grass in pots.

My NDN used to wonder why I was out in the garden in my robe till she saw the scissors and plastic bowl . Guinea-pigs are delighted with a plate of grass .

Go easy with the spinach and Kale , every day is too much .
Oxilates in dark green veg ( includes parsley , green peppers , spinach, lambs lettuce , watercress , kale) can lead to bladder stones as its high in calcium.

Arg! Everything I read said they should have a teacup of greens. Sigh.

But not constant dark greens! Romaine lettuce or round lettuce is good too. Carrot, coriander and celery also.

I would imagine that turf will have been treated sith herbicides and fertilisers. If you know any feed merchants in your area they sell a product called readigrass that is simple dried grass, it does c ome in large bags for horses, but they may make smaller bags for rabbits etc?

Thanks for all the input, it doesn’t sound like it, but I really did read a lot before we got them.

But then lots of sources say not to give them lettuce, especially ice berg.
We have little gem, will that do? They’re certainly getting bigger.

ReadiGrass is lovely our pigs scoffed it in winter when grass was poor , its an addition to hay not a substitute .Gorgeous malty smell
It doesn't have the same fibre as hay does .

For fresh veg/salad we tried to give a variety of colour .
So carrot , salad bag if we had it (not iceberg) leaft sweetcorn, red peppers, yellow/orange peppers, celery leaves but not stalks (fussy)
Some dark green - they liked spinach, Cavelo Nero , tolerated kale
Would sell their spleens fpr parsley or mint

Small bit of apple , slice of banana in skin, watermelon skin, strawberry leaves (go easy on fruit)

Didn't like green pepper or lambs lettuce .

To survive they don't actually need veg . Hay , pellets and water would give them everything . VitC in pellets , roughage in hay .
But these little animals live to eat . It's one of the joys of them when they relish some new treat .
A hay/pellet/water diet sounds really sad , like something a laboratory animal would live on

Well quite, which is why that’s not all they get. They get carrots and celery often (altho everything says carrot not more than once or twice a week) occasional apple which they were very pleased with. We tried a bit of mange tout. They ignored peppper, but will try again.
And they get outside with grass plus I pick them grass as often as we can, it’s really to cheer the days it’s too cold & wet to go out.

Three of my old pigs and their plate of winter grass , hand picked by yours truely

Aw their little faces.
I have been wondering, can they eat cooked veg? We quite often have a bit left over at dinner, but I didn’t want to risk it upsetting their tummies.
Also nettles?

Ha! I'm not suggesting your guineas have the equivilent of bread'n'water they are obviously very well catered for (otherwise you know they have Paul O'Grady on Speed Dial Come and save us we're staaaaarved )

Cooked veg doesn't work for piggies and I'd imagine nettles would sting their little mouths .

Dandelions are a favourite , leaves and stalks . They hoover them up like spagjetti then spit out the flower

Yes they’ve been getting the dandelions in the lawn, although I read too many aren’t great because of the diuretic properties and goodness knows they wee enough already. But they aren’t going to be short of dandelions.
They’re still pretty shy but I’ll try to put up a picture, they’re very sweet.

Two main things that Guinea pigs Hate is being Cold and Damp, including being on wet grass our out in a run with damp a atmosphere.
They are very prone to lung problems and can easily and quickly die from it.

They do however love Timothy Hay, available from most pet shops, Fresh Corn on the Cob, Apples, and Tomatoes. Our own piggies refused to drink Tap water, they preferred to get their moisture from a good Chunk of Cucumber or Honeydew Melon every day.
You can try offering them the special Guinea Pig Kibble, but it was a bit like Marmite to mine, some loved it, others hated it, and preferred to eat more Timothy Hay instead!

Ours always came indoors overnight, we bought one of the large plastic Storage boxes to use as a indoor cage for them, minus the lid. That way they remained dry and safe from any lurking Preditors, as we have a lot of Foxes and Birds of Prey locally.

I have four Guineas. They sleep on hay so when it is too cold to go out they nibble on that then I feed them a variety of veggies in the evening with their nuggets.
If they're new to going out on grass you're right to limit grass but give them other things instead. When mine have been our all day I don't give veggies in the evening
Have you tried herbs? They LOVE parsley

Yes I give them a little bit of parsley most days, I’m trying to train them to expect something good when I sing their song,
When they are in the run they always have a house stuffed full of hay that they can cosy hide in along with their tubes. I’m anticipating building them some more things for the run too.
They have a special guinea hot water bottle in the evenings.